Umpires are treading the fine line when it comes to calling no-balls

Osman Samiuddin explains why umpires have a difficult time calling a no-ball as it happened during the recent Ashes series.

The fact that international umpires often miss calling no-balls has been brought to light by television technology. Tim Hales / AP Photo

Spotting a no-ball should be among the simpler of the many tasks of an umpire, right?

There is a line and either the foot lands over it or it does not. It is not assessing trajectory and swing. It is not gauging how high the ball bounced and where it struck pad; or whether that sound was bat on ball or bat on ground; or whether the fielder got his fingers underneath the ball.

It is just a line that has either been crossed or not.

Look at the photographs below. They are of current international bowlers, taken from the point of view of the umpire. They were first shown last year, at an ICC briefing, and are published here courtesy the ICC.

Note how it is not just difficult, but almost impossible to know with any degree of certainty whether the deliveries are legal or not.

Note that this is a still image you can stare at as long as you want, not a split-second blur of movement about to initiate a sequence of events that you need to be observing just as diligently 22 yards away. Note also that these are not bowlers with particularly unusual actions.

But because it is generally considered to be the simplest of an umpire’s many tasks, checking no-balls is mistakenly assumed to be an easy job.

So when they go unnoticed, as a fair few did in the recent Ashes series, there is the general bewilderment and slightly forced outrage that humans express when they feel other humans are not doing their job.

What are the umpires doing? Have they stopped looking at no-balls?

They have not. It is just that from side-on, with ultra-motion cameras and endless replays, a no-ball is unmissable. From where umpires are standing, it is not.

It is not restricted to just a few bowlers, either. One international umpire reckons there is at least one bowler in every side whose action makes it difficult to spot a no-ball.

A couple of years ago, a spate of Mohammed Irfan transgressions went uncalled in a Test in Abu Dhabi. One umpire believes it is impossible to assess Irfan’s landing with certainty. Wasim Akram, a serial no-baller, was another, historically.

It is more difficult with the more open-chested, front-on bowlers – of whom there are many – where the back leg obscures the front. Those who bowl from closer to the stumps, such as Steven Finn, are also problematic.

Finn lost a wicket against Australia earlier this month because of a no-ball spotted retrospectively. In absolving the umpires, he said: “I know, from a personal point of view, that the umpire can’t see my front foot when I land because of the way my hip and back knee rotate through.”

There are bowlers whose front foot slides forward after landing. There are others who deliver with the heel raised but behind the line.

To think they are easy to spot or that umpires have stopped checking on the field is wrong.

Checking the line at delivery and then looking up is a routine built into umpires from whenever they begin umpiring – it is ingrained as much as the technical habits of players. It does not just stop, even with the safety net of technology.

What has happened is a reaffirmation in an ICC cricket committee meeting in May this year of the protocols of an incorrect on-field no-ball call.

In wanting to minimise the effects of an incorrect call, the committee has told on-field umpires to call no-balls only when they are certain no part of the foot has landed behind the line.

That is, umpires would rather not call a no-ball and have it checked than call one and be proven wrong, because that decision cannot be undone.

Would it help if they stood closer to the stumps? Umpires used to stand closer years ago, crouching down to look at the crease before straightening up to look down the pitch.

But like batting, bowling and fielding, umpiring has also evolved to become as efficient as possible. Umpires began moving back when the aim became to keep the head as still as possible and aligned down the centre of the pitch.

Instead of moving the head down to look at the crease and then moving it back up quickly, it made more sense to move back and broaden the field of vision. Then, only the eyes and not the entire head need to move down and then up again.

In truth, there is probably not much that can be done to change the situation. In greater truth, it is hardly one of cricket’s pressing issues.

Instituting the kind of electronic line-calling system in tennis, or football’s goal-line technology, would be complex. Creases get blurry, and there is the movement of the non-striker across the line to consider. What of the heel that is behind the line at delivery but raised?

It would also be expensive. In any case, modern umpiring is a skirmish for space with technology and the ICC does not want to cede more.

From instinct, it feels as if it does not happen as often in limited-overs games, where a no-ball has greater implications. It is worth wondering whether umpires, at some subconscious level, operate differently there.

It is as likely that bowlers operate differently, as well, and are tighter on their run-ups than they might be in Tests.

The ICC is working on ways to speed up the time it takes for a no-ball to be checked. Until then, cricket would do well to accept this as collateral damage for the immeasurable improvements in its broadcast.

After all, it is impossible to know whether umpires are missing more no-balls than before, but it is definitely the case that they – and we – are able to see more on TV.

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